Palestinian detainee Maher al-Akhras is in critical condition as he enters his 97th day of hunger strike

Palestinian detainee Maher Al-Akhras continues with his hunger strike for the 97th consecutive day amid reports that he is in a critical  health condition. The detainee has gone on a  hunger strike in protest against the Israeli occupation crimes towards the Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails.

According to WAFA news agency, Hassan Abed Rabbo, from the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, al-Akhras may experience a sudden relapse in one of his vital organs due to deficiency of salts and fluids in his body, and his refusal to take nutritional supplements.

He said al-Akhras, who is being kept at the Israeli Kaplan hospital, suffers from severe fatigue and began to feel pain in his heart. His hearing and speech have become impaired, he suffers from seizures, severe pain all over his body, and from blurred vision and severe headache.

 Abed Rabbo said there is a real concern that this will affect the vital functions of his body organs, such as kidneys, liver and heart, and therefore his life is at risk at any moment.

On his part, European Union spokesman Peter Stano said that the Union is closely following up the health condition of prisoner al-Akhras and it calls on “Israel” to fully respect the international humanitarian law, abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention and protect the health of al-Akhras.

The occupation forces arrested al-Akhras on the 27th of last July. Al-Khras was previously arrested several times, the first was in 1989 for a period of 7 months and the second was in 2004 for two years. He was re-arrested for the third time in 2009 for 16 months and for the fourth time in 2018 for a period of 11 months.

 Hamda Mustafa